Frontline Combat #7 p 4

My first Golden Age twice-up page! Thrilled to get a page from a famous issue of this EC comic that showcased the Battle of Iwo Jima. In this story, "The Caves," the perspective of Japanese soldiers is given. Unlike many comics at the time that relied on common racial tropes/stereotypes, this portrayal treats the Japanese soldiers with dignity.

On the page the Japanese soldiers run for water under fire, disable an American tank and sustain injury from heavy shooting as bullets rip through the air around them.

Harvey Kurtzman was so famously devoted to making his war comics authentic that he once sent his assistant on a submarine for research. And while Kurtzman's hand may not have touched the art here, make no mistake that John Severin is following Kurtzman's layouts and pacing. In fact, Kurtzman was so demanding that his artists follow his layouts that it later caused a rift between him and Severin, a great artist in his own right who chaffed under such rigid direction.

Severin himself was known to do great research in his war work, so much so that fellow war comics artist and Air Force veteran Russ Heath once said that Severin drew the most accurate portrayals of war he had ever seen.

Under Kurtzman's direction, EC published some of the greatest war comics in history, but it wore down Kurtzman, and eventually he left the war stories behind to try his hand at a little satire rag called Mad.